


Breathless

by afterandalasia



Category: The Little Mermaid (1989)
Genre: Bathing/Washing, Breathplay, F/M, Kink Bingo 2012, Mute Ariel, Post-Movie(s), Smutlet
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-08-24
Updated: 2012-08-24
Packaged: 2018-06-01 00:40:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 856
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6494065
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/afterandalasia/pseuds/afterandalasia
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ariel misses the sea, and what it can give her. But now, there is another thrill to water, one not available to her before.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Breathless

**Author's Note:**

> For the Kink Bingo square "Breathplay".

Ariel had long missed the sea.  
  
In the earliest, headiest days, she had of course not noticed it much. She had been too caught up in her adoration of this world that she had so longed for, and, of course, in her adoration of Eric.  
  
With time, though, after her wedding and as she grew used to life without her fins, without her tail (without her voice), she realised what water gave that air did not. No amount of staircases or ladders or hills would ever replace the thrill of swimming straight up, of moving into the light and out of the great crushing pressure of the deeps. And, of course, she missed that pressure as well, of knowing how the sea enfolded her, permeated her, filling her mouth and throat. Tangible.  
  
The first time that Eric found her slipping beneath the surface of the bathwater, eyes placidly open, peaceful, he had panicked. He had dragged her out, slapped her back, terrified that she was drowning. It took long minutes, cupping his jaw in her wet hands, making those hushing sounds that did not need a voice to make. Eventually, realisation dawned; Eric gave a weak, relieved laugh and hugged her tightly, not caring how wet his clothes became or how his hair stuck to her face.  
  
“Oh, Ariel,” he said as she drew away, stroking her cheek. “You scared me.”  
  
She looked at him compassionately, then leant across to kiss his lips. They felt dry and soft, but human, as perfectly human as the rest of him, and some of the tenseness drained out of his shoulders as she stroked her thumb along his lower lip.  
  
“Why, though?” he asked softly, the movement of his lips knocking her touch away. “Is something wrong? Are you... upset, about something?”  
  
She shook her head, almost violently, then stilled. The water on her body was cooling, making all the tiny hairs on her body stand on end, and she wanted desperately to get back into the warm bath and surround herself with the water that still felt a little like home. Eric had always struggled to understand everything that she missed about the sea.  
  
Insistently, she pointed out, towards the window. It was still possible from the castle to see the ocean, to smell it, to feel the air that rolled in off it during the day. Eric turned to follow her gaze, then came back again. “The sea?” he guessed. “It reminds you of the sea?”  
  
Ariel smiled as she nodded, making a little gesture with her hands to encourage him to keep going. His blue eyes grew troubled as he tried to work out what she meant.  
  
“And you... like it because of that?”  
  
Joy spilled over and she reached to kiss him again, nipping and pulling at his lips, relief bubbling in her chest. Breaking the kiss, Ariel took hold of Eric’s hand and tugged him back towards the bath, clambering in and dragging him after her. He laughed, water splashing everywhere as he stepped out of his boots and stumbled in beside her, then she took hold of his hands in hers, held his gaze long enough to let him know to _trust me, please_ , and slipped back below the water once again.  
  
Water wrapped around her, over her skin, over her face. It tickled at her lips and nose, against her eyes when she opened them. She felt a few bubbles of air creep out of her mouth, and clamped it tightly shut again. This was one thing which the water had never given her before: the fullness in her throat, the burn in her lungs, the way that her head had seemed to fill up with water as well, swimming, swirling. It was work not to breathe in; she could no longer do that, not as she once had beneath the sea, but this was close enough.  
  
In front of her eyes, the water shimmered and wavered, Eric like a mirage. Sensation, arousal, squirmed down her spine as the burn grew, filling her throat, her mouth, swelling through her until she could bear it no more and she burst to the surface. The breath exploded out of her lungs and into the air, and she dragged in another to replace it, cool into heat, head full of sparks and rushing glory. Her hands tightened around Eric’s, squeezing tight as the world reformed itself around her again, as she returned to the world of the air with water still on her lips, in her ears and beaded on her skin.  
  
She closed her eyes for a moment to hold in the sensation, then let it out with a slow breath and opened her eyes. Eric came back into view again, still watching her uncertainly, and she reached out to stroke his cheek gently with a smile still all across her face.  
  
“Ariel...” he said softly. “I swear... you are like no-one I have ever met.”  
  
She laughs to herself, soundlessly, and leans across to kiss him on the mouth again. Because he, too, is unique to her, and that makes him just perfect.


End file.
